Yemeni women were asked if they visit a gynecologist or obstetrician, and if so, how frequently they visit. Nearly half of the women interviewed, 44%, have never visited a gynecologist or obstetrician. Only a small proportion of women visit once every one or two years (13%). A little over one in five women visit a gynecologist when pregnant (22%) (Figure 14).

Examining by marital status women’s frequency of visits to gynecologists or obstetricians (Figure 15), most women were still unlikely to visit a gynecologist once every one or two years.

The vast majority of unmarried women (88%) have never visited a gynecologist/obstetrician.

Six in ten previously married women have never visited a gynecologist.

Married women were the most likely to visit a gynecologist or obstetrician at all.

Despite this, 28% of married women have never visited a gynecologist or obstetrician.

Across all age groups, women were unlikely to have visited a gynecologist or obstetrician. However, older women were less likely to have visited -- over three quarters of women 65 years old and older have never been to a gynecologist, and almost 60% of women ages 55 to 64 have never been.

The data suggest a generational shift across Yemen, as more women between 25 to 44 years old report having visited a gynecologist rarely or once every one or two years. Almost a fifth of women ages 25 to 34 visit every one or two years, and 26% of women ages 35 to 44 visit at least “rarely.” Less than a third of women between 25 to 44 years old have never been to a gynecologist (Figure 16).

A generational shift also appears in access to formal education among Yemeni women (please see Educational Attainment and Career Aspirations Topic Brief): this rising level of education might have something to do with the rising frequency of visits to physicians who specialize in caring for women’s reproductive health.

Despite such generational shifts, rates of gynecological/obstetrical visits remain low across levels of education. Although women with a university degree or higher are more likely to visit a gynecologist every one or two years than are women with no education (25% and 10%, respectively), and also are less likely to visit rarely (14% vs. 22%), over a third of women with a university degree or higher have never visited a gynecologist. One third to half of all women regardless of educational level in Yemen state that they have never visited a gynecologist (Figure 17).